Tag: meal planning

Did you know preparing your meals in advance is very beneficial to your diet? No? It is! Meal prep is an excellent tool you can use both as an individual as well as in a family or other group setting. Let’s dive into a few of the key benefits of meal prep now:

Save Money

Sometimes groceries can get expensive. It might surprise you, but if you are only ever cooking for yourself, you can encounter a ton of unnecessary expense. Unfortunately, this is a result of buying a lot of food in order to introduce variety into your diet. Variety is good, but there are certain ways to go about it if you want to ensure you maximize your budget. Meal prepping helps ensure you are eating well while also conserving as much money as possible. For instance, you can do sheet pan chicken and vegetables for the whole week of lunches. Need variety? You can change the spices on your chicken if you would like, or separate your vegetables differently.

Save Time

Cooking your own meals every day can get quite time consuming. Things often get a little complicated too, no doubt about it. You can easily simplify things and save yourself a lot of time over the week through meal prep. Even just planning your meals or doing simple things like pre-chopping the vegetables helps you be able to throw together a meal at the last minute. Of course recipes like sheet pan chicken and vegetables or slow cooker meals are perhaps the best at saving you time over the course of the week. You can make them once, portion them out, and you are good to go!

Stay Healthy

Sometimes when we are stuck for ideas on what to eat, we turn to unhealthy options. Meal prep helps us avoid this since we already know what we are going to be eating. Of course, you can do flexible meal prep to introduce variety, but what it comes down to is you are better able to stay healthy if you pick healthy options in meal prep.

Are you on a budget? Eating is not something you can eliminate from your expenses, but you can maintain a good diet while also adhering to a strict budget. Need some help getting started? Here are three key tips for grocery shopping on a budget.

Create A Meal Plan

What do you want to eat this week? Make a schedule for each of your meals for the upcoming week. You can do this on paper or on the computer (e.g. as an Excel spreadsheet)—whichever you prefer. Understanding what you are going to eat throughout the week can help reduce or even eliminate unnecessary purchases at the grocery store. Make a note of the ingredients you are going to need while creating this meal plan—you will need it during your grocery shopping trip.

Check Store Flyers

A great way to reduce spending at the grocery store is to check the flyers before you make your trip there. This way, you have an idea on different specials you can take advantage of. It is best to check the flyers while you are creating your meal plan, since you might want to adjust your meals based on what products are on special. For instance, if you wanted to make chicken breast but it is not on sale? Another protein, such as ground beef, might be. Try building your meal plan, mentioned previously, around what is on sale at your local store.

Stocking Your Cupboards

If you had to buy every ingredient you need every time you shop, you are going to rack up quite the bill. Instead, make sure your cupboards, fridge, and freezer are always stocked with a range of staple ingredients. When you buy chicken breast while it is on special? Portion and freeze the extra breasts! Do you like pasta? Buy an extra box when it is on special, so if you crave it when the price goes up, you can still have some.

Preparing your meals in advance offers a variety of benefits, including saving you time on busy days as well as increasing the amount of healthy, well-balanced meals you eat. Sometimes, however, meal preparation can seem overwhelming. The good news is as long as you think about it beforehand, there is nothing intimidating about planning and prepping your meals in advance of dinner time.

To that end, here are some tips to help you engage in effective meal preparation:

Quality Containers

You can prepare as many meals as you want, but without good containers to store the food in, you are not going to get anywhere with meal preparation. You can choose plastic bags, plastic storage containers, glass containers, et cetera. Consider what kind of ingredients you will be using for your meals. If you are simply chopping vegetables for a meal, you can get away with a plastic bag. For liquids, on the other hand, you may need a bottle.

Plan The Meals

Of course, in order to prepare your meals you are going to have to plan what they are going to be! You can do this on pen and paper or on your computer—whichever works best for you. Make sure to make notes for all breakfasts, lunches, and dinners you will need to prepare for. Consider all the ingredients you will need for each meal. Before you go to the grocery store, remember to check your fridge, freezer, and cupboards to see if you have any of the ingredients already.

Cook At The Same Time

Sure, you could do one meal at a time, but try to cook multiple meals at the same time whenever possible. For instance, if you plan to have chicken more than once during your week (or other meal prep period) cook the chicken breasts at the same time. You can cook different meats and vegetables simultaneously as well, depending on the temperature required. Your only concern here would be cross contamination, so be sure to wash your hands throughout this process and use separate utensils and baking sheet.

Mix It Up

Sometimes it is easy to just cook the same meal so you do not have to worry too much about what you are going to eat or other snags that might come with meal preparation for more than one thing. However, this is often a mistake. It is very easy to get bored if you are eating the same thing every day. When you are just starting out with meal preparation, try doing two meals so you can switch them out with one another. Gradually add meals as you get a hang of things.